Signing up for a booster can be complicated

Scheduling a vaccine through the Department of Health website shouldn’t be confusing. But as the state urges adults over 18 to receive booster shots to protect against COVID-19, many people are reporting issues.

Here’s what we saw when trying to schedule a booster shot: First, after receiving a code — which if you don’t have, the Department of Health can text you — a person wanting a booster goes to the vaccine registration page. (That address is cvvaccine. nmhealth.org/my-registration.html).

There, it appears straightforward. The shot seeker fills in details about what type of booster is desired, whether he or she needs accommodations of any sort, time frame desired and, importantly, the city desired.

It’s when filling in the city and searching that it gets interesting.

For example, a search Friday for Pfizer shots in Santa Fe turned up locations in Las Vegas, N.M., Bernalillo, Los Alamos and Rio Arriba County — all spots that aren’t in Santa Fe. The closest to the City Different was a location at Tesuque Casino.

Another search for Moderna shots brought a number of locations, with only one apparently in Santa Fe — the Walmart at 3251 Cerrillos Road. However, the select a date function wasn’t working. Someone unfamiliar with computers might click on a Sam’s Club pharmacy, thinking it was in Santa Fe, only to find out later they were signed up in Farmington or Las Cruces.

Fix this, please, so people can sign up efficiently for boosters, just as they did when accessing the initial vaccines.

There’s good news amid confusion, however. It is fairly simple to go straight to locations where shots are being given and sign up on a pharmacy website. That is, go to

Walgreens, CVS or Walmart — or whatever pharmacy you use — and make an appointment. The process can be somewhat laborious. The companies want names, addresses, email contact information and the like.

Pharmacy appointments are filling up fast, too. But at least by making an appointment at the Walgreens on Cerrillos or the CVS on Cordova, a person won’t have to worry about inadvertently signing up in Bernalillo or Albuquerque.

Computer whizzes at the Department of Health need to work on the vaccine appointment site to ensure that when you click on Santa Fe as your city, the locations available actually are within Santa Fe. And fixing similar problems on other state agency websites — certainly, the Department of Workforce Solutions can tell you all about it — is key to keeping customers happy.

More than that, we urge the state — and the city, county, public schools and local hospitals and clinics — to sponsor more pop-up clinics so people can walk up and get their boosters, as happened with the initial vaccine rollout. The clinics that have been held at the Santa Fe Railyard by the artists market are an example of how to do it right. To find events, go to the website, now named goodtimes.vaccinenm.org/stayahead-nm/ and scroll down to where it says, “Find an event near you” and look for a vaccine clinic.

With immunity fading after six months, many residents of Santa Fe — who rushed to be vaccinated as soon as possible — likely are at risk going into the winter and holiday seasons. People want to gather with their families safely. Having a complete series of vaccinations can make that happen. It should not be complicated to schedule a shot. Let’s do better.